Social Colander: Dinner Party Meet Cooking Contest

Social Colander is a culinary experiment: traditional dinner party meets raucous cooking contest.

More and more folks are experimenting with cooking, but there are very few venues for showcasing those skills besides the informal potluck dinner. Social Colander is an event series and platform that provides foodies with a competitive yet friendly opportunity to fund their experimentations and share the experience with others.

It all started from weekly roommate dinners in Cambridgeport that became venues for us to out-gourmet each other. The concept is based on 3 key philosophies: 1) We must democratize food experiences by celebrating the amateur chef, someone who is not often celebrated 2) We can utilize digital experiences to augment physical experiences, and 3) When we tap into our "inner Iron Chefs", we are able to gather good people around good food.

We’ve hosted three successful pilot events already (in Mar/Apr/Jun 2012) with tickets selling out in less than 24 hours. Here’s how it works:

Each month, the Social Colander hosts (currently Mark+Tiffany) choose a theme and coordinate 3 chef teams to compete. A set number of Guest Judge tickets are sold through our website+Eventbrite, and all funds go towards chef ingredients, event materials, and winning prize.

At the dinner, each chef team serves a course based on the theme. Guest Judges are given a 3-course meal, wine, beer, foodie chit chat, and a digital voting ballot.

After the meal, each Guest Judge votes for the best dish by seamlessly filling out their digital ballot with the following criteria: Taste (50%), Presentation (25%), and Creativity (25%). The winning chef team receives a gift certificate to a top restaurant.

Currently, we've sold out each event, and we'd really like to grow the experience to a larger audience. While we've proven that it's successful in small, one-off dinners, our vision is to expand Social Colander more events, larger venues, and more cities.